JPH0361577A - Method for printing fine pattern - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To sufficiently smooth a fine pattern by interposing a film material having no affinity to printing ink between the fine pattern and the smooth support surface of a support plate and bringing said pattern and the support plate into pressure contact state and smoothing the fine pattern. CONSTITUTION:In case of application to the color filter of a liquid crystal color display, a fine pattern 4 is printed on a glass substrate 2 in such a state that micro protrusions and recesses are left on the surfaces of the fine lines 4a, 4b, 4c and a support plate 6 having smooth surfaces at the opposite sides is placed on a heating surface plate 5 and a film material 7 composed of a film formed of silicone rubber or silicone resin having extremely low thermal expansion/contraction or a film having a release layer applied to the surface thereof is brought into close contact with the entire surface of the support plate 6. When the surface of the transferred fine pattern is brought into contact with the surface having the release layer applied thereto of the film material 7 along with the glass substrate 2, the glass substrate 2 is heated by the heating action of the heating surface plate 5 to suppress curing of the printing ink of the fine pattern and the micro protrusions and recesses on/in the surface of the detailed pattern are leveled and smoothed. As a result, smoothing treatment can be effectively performed in an extremely smooth manner and the surface of the fine pattern can be sufficiently smoothed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a method for printing fine patterns, particularly a method for printing fine patterns on electric or electronic components such as color filters of liquid crystal color displays that require precision printing. This is related to the improvement of

(Prior art) Printing of the above-mentioned 'V1m pattern requires an extremely high degree of precision.For example, in the case of a color filter for an LCD color display, fine lines of color such as three primary colors or four colors of three primary colors and black are printed. An intaglio offset printing technique is employed to print a continuous pattern of on the surface of a transparent inorganic glass substrate.

This printing technique prints a required fine pattern by transferring printing ink transferred from a printing plate such as an intaglio plate or a planographic plate to a blanket onto the substrate to be printed, but the fine lines that make up the fine pattern are Since the pixels in the shape of the image consist of the three primary colors of red, blue, and green (ERGB) or four colors including black, there are variations in the transfer state of individual pixel parts, and as a result, the film thickness of each pixel is uneven. , the fine pattern is printed with a surface that lacks smoothness. If the surface of such a fine pattern has minute irregularities, in the case of a color display mounted with a liquid crystal drive electrode, the width of the opposing distance between the electrode attached to the surface of the fine pattern and the drive electrode may change. Differences in dimensions may occur, which may impede the liquid crystal driving function.
In the TN liquid crystal, such uncertainty in the liquid crystal driving operation becomes a fatal flaw. Therefore, conventionally, in order to smooth the surface of the fine pattern of the color filter (electrode mounting surface of the liquid crystal), the finely uneven surface of the surface is polished or rolled using a polishing means or a rolling roll means. A method of obtaining smoothing was adopted, for example, in JP-A No. 6
A technique has been proposed, as disclosed in Japanese Publication No. 2-280804, in which a film is brought into close contact with the surface of the fine pattern of the substrate, and the film is pressed with a rolling roll to smooth the surface of the fine pattern.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, when a polishing means or a rolling roll means is employed to smooth the surface of the fine pattern of the color filter (electrode mounting surface of the liquid crystal), in the former means, In actual practice, it is extremely difficult to uniformly polish the entire surface to be polished, and there is also the problem that the performance of the color filter deteriorates due to residual polishing debris. However, the technique disclosed in the above-mentioned publication is simply a means of rolling a fine pattern through a film to form a fine pattern. After the printing ink has hardened, the desired smoothing becomes supinated, which is not a satisfactory solution.

Therefore, this invention is suitable for precision printing that requires fine patterns for color filters and other fine patterns.
The object of the present invention is to provide a smoothing means that is practical and can produce extremely satisfactory results for smoothing the surface of a fine pattern (for example, the electrode mounting surface of a liquid crystal in a color filter). In this section, the means for solving the problem and specific preferred embodiments will be explained in detail.

(Means for Solving the Problem) The means for solving the problem of this defense, as described in claim 1, is based on a printing method in which a required fine pattern is printed on a substrate by a method 43 to an off-seller 1. , a substrate having a fine pattern transferred from a blanket attached to a plate cylinder and a support plate having a smooth support surface are positioned so that the fine pattern transferred and the support surface face each other, The plate is supported by a heating surface plate, and a film-like material that is wet and has no affinity for printing ink is interposed between the fine pattern and the smooth support surface of the support plate, and the plate is heated with a required pressure. This method is characterized in that the surface of the fine pattern is smoothed by pressing the substrate and the support plate.

(Operation of the Invention) According to the present invention, a support plate that presses a fine pattern transferred to a substrate is supported by a heating surface plate, and the substrate is also heated via the support plate by the heating by this heating surface plate, The progress of curing of the printing ink constituting the fine pattern is suppressed, the printing ink is rolled by the film-like body while maintaining an uncured state, and the surface of the fine pattern is smoothed.

(Embodiment) The embodiment of the present invention shown in the attached drawings is an example in which the present invention is applied to a color filter for a liquid crystal color display, but the present invention is not limited to only color filters. It should be added that this method is widely applicable to printing fine patterns by precision printing.

In the illustrated embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a color filter 1 includes an inorganic glass substrate 2 and a back plate 3 with excellent light transmission. It has a smooth surface, and a fine pattern 4 is applied to one smooth surface. This glass substrate has a transparent drive electrode (
(not shown), a liquid crystal is sealed between the two, transparent electrodes are mounted on the surface of the fine pattern 2 of the substrate, and a color display is assembled. However, regarding this point,
Since this is well known to those skilled in the art and is not directly related to the gist of the present invention, detailed explanation will be omitted.

The formation of the fine pattern 4 on the glass substrate 2 is performed by an intaglio offset printing means, in which the printing surface of the translucent inorganic glass substrate is smoothed, and the printing surface is subjected to intaglio offset printing. A fine pattern of a desired pattern is transferred and printed from a blanket of 1A. The obtained fine pattern 4 is a color filter pattern with a thin line stripe pattern consisting of a large number of consecutive thin lines (line width and interval dimensions of about 100 μm) of each surrounding color with the addition of the three RG8 primary colors or black. In this transfer, printing ink containing pigments is transferred from an offset printing plate made with a fine pattern by photolithography to a blanket, and is then transferred and printed through the blanket.This transfer printing technology is , are well known to those skilled in the art, so a detailed explanation will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 2A, the glass substrate 1 on which the RAM pattern is printed by the above-described method is printed with fine irregularities left on the surface of the fine lines 4a, 4b, and 4C that constitute the fine pattern 4. Therefore, subsequent to the printing process, the fine pattern is smoothed. This smoothing treatment process is performed on a heated surface plate 5 heated at a temperature of about 60 to 70°C, so that both sides of the plate are polished to a completely smooth finish. A support plate 6 having smoothness is placed, and a film of silicone rubber, silicone polymer, polytetrafluoroethylene, polyethylene terephthalate having extremely low thermal elasticity or a film of silicone rubber, silicone polymer, or polyethylene terephthalate is placed on the surface.
A film with a release layer selected from polytetrafluoroethylene and polyethylene terephthalate layers (
A film-like body 7 having a thickness of 150 μm is brought into close contact with the entire surface of the support plate. This film-like body 7 has peelability itself or has a peeling layer formed thereon.
Peel off the surface of the transferred fine pattern 11i11ff
l 7Jt J71! The glass substrate 2 is brought into close contact with the exposed surface. This close contact operation is carried out while the transferred fine pattern printing ink is uncured, but the heating action of the heating surface plate causes the support plate h to
6 and the film-like body 7, the printing ink of the fine pattern is prevented from curing when they are in close contact with each other, and the printing ink of each thin line portion constituting the fine pattern 4 is heated by the film-like body. It is fluid to the extent that it can be crushed by the pressing force, and thereby the minute irregularities on the surface of the fine pattern are leveled and smoothed, and as shown in FIG. 2B, each m-line 4a, 4b, 4c The surface of is a -like smooth surface.

In this way, due to the close contact between the glass substrate 2 and the support plate 6 with the fine pattern 4 in between, the fine pattern 4 is pressed against the smooth surface of the support plate, and the surface is rolled and smoothed. , the pressure welding operation is performed on the glass substrate 2 and the support plate 6 in the sandwich state through a rolling means consisting of a rolling roll 8 and a heating surface plate 5, and the pressing operation is performed by passing the glass substrate 2 and the supporting plate 6 in a sandwich state through a rolling means consisting of a rolling roll 8 and a heating surface plate 5. It is possible to adopt a method of forcibly passing the sandwiched material through the gap and pressing it into contact with the material.

The insertion gap may be set according to the thickness of the sandwich-inch structure, and the pressure required for pressure welding may be applied depending on the thickness of the sandwich-inch structure. It is also possible to apply pressure evenly and evenly over the entire surface.

After the surface of the fine pattern 4 is smoothed, the glass substrate 2 and the support plate 6 are separated. In this separation operation step, the film-like body 7 is peeled off from the fine pattern 4 of the glass substrate 2, but the film-like body 7 in contact with the fine pattern 4
Since it has peelability itself or has a peeling layer, it can be easily peeled off from the fine pattern 4.

The glass substrate 2 on which the fine pattern 4 has been transferred in this manner has a smoothed surface of the fine pattern 40, and a color filter having a fine pattern with a smooth surface can be obtained. In the assembled color display, a transparent counter electrode of liquid crystal is applied to the fine pattern surface of the smoothed color filter, and a structure in which the distance between the counter electrodes and the drive electrodes of the facing back plate is constant is formed. , a liquid crystal color display with stable operation.

(Effects of the Invention) According to the present invention, in a printing method in which a required fine pattern is printed on a substrate by an intaglio offset method, a substrate having a fine pattern transferred from a plate cylinder and a support plate having a smooth support surface are provided. are positioned so that the transferred fine pattern and the support surface face each other, the support plate is supported by a heating surface plate, and between the fine pattern and the smooth support surface of the support plate, By interposing a film-like material that has no affinity for printing ink,
Since the substrate and the support plate are brought into contact with the required pressure to smooth the surface of the fine pattern, the printing ink of each fine line of the fine pattern is smoothed without being cured, and the surface is smoothed. This process is extremely smooth and effective, and is useful for precision printed matter where smoothing the surface of fine patterns is extremely important, especially as a printing method that requires precision printing such as color filters for liquid crystal color displays. It has a certain effect.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show an example in which the present invention is applied to fine pattern printing of a color filter of a liquid crystal color display.
FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B are enlarged cross-sectional views showing the surface condition of each thin line of the fine pattern on the glass substrate, respectively, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the pressure contact operation between the glass substrate and the support plate. It is. 1... Color filter 2... Inorganic glass substrate 3... Back plate 4... Fine pattern 5... Heating surface plate 6. ... Support plate 7 ... Membrane body 8 ... Rolling roll

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a printing method in which a required fine pattern is printed on a substrate by an offset method, a substrate having a fine pattern transferred from a blanket attached to a plate cylinder;
A support plate having a smooth support surface is positioned so that the transferred fine pattern and the support surface face each other,
The support plate is supported by a heating surface plate, and a film-like body having no affinity for printing ink is interposed between the fine pattern and the smooth support surface of the support plate to maintain a required pressure. 1. A method for printing a fine pattern, characterized in that the surface of the fine pattern is smoothed by pressing the substrate and a support plate together. (2) The film-like body is silicone rubber, silicone polymer,
It consists of a film of polytetrafluoroethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, or a film whose surface is coated with a release layer selected from silicone rubber, silicone polymer, polytetrafluoroethylene, and polyethylene terephthalate layer, and has the property of having a low heat shrinkage rate. A method for printing a fine pattern according to claim 1, characterized in that: